Spirit Traveler
by Chapter Four Fanatics
Summary: A powerful presence is being sensed throughout all three worlds. The last "sighting" was in Hell. But how can Yusuke and the gang battle something they can't find? Only an antisocial teenage girl in the southern US can help them.
1. Hell and Beyond

_It was hot, as hot as the underworld. She merely glanced at the barren landscape around her. She'd been here before, much as she wished she hadn't. She sighed as she wandered across the land. She hoped she'd wake up soon._

_"Grrrr… I could KILL that Spirit Detective!" a voice growled (actually, the language he used is not fitting for this rating). _

_She shrugged and walked towards the voice, not bothering to be cautious. It was only a dream, after all._

_"You had your chance, buddy. You obviously couldn't handle it!" another voice replied. _

_She finally saw the speakers, two humanoid creatures, one with blue skin, the other with red. Both had pointed ears and vampire-like teeth. The blue-skinned one wore a pelt of some kind, while the red one wore black cotton pants._

_"Next time…" the red one mumbled._

_"NEWSFLASH! There isn't gonna BE a next time! You're DEAD!" the blue one roared._

_Suddenly, both tensed. _

_"You sense that?" the red guy asked, looking in her direction._

_"Yeah…" the blue one agreed, staring hard at the place she was standing._

_Both started towards her. She backed up, eyeing the two creatures. Suddenly, one of them lunged right at her._

-- --- -- --- --

"What is it this time, Koenma?" Yusuke Urameshi asked, leaning against the wall in the Prince's office.

"Right." Koenma coughed, clearing his throat as he paced the length of his desk. "Recently, it has come to our attention that a strange presence has been sensed all over all three worlds. I don't think I need to tell you how potentially dangerous this presence is, Yusuke. It doesn't seem to need any kind of portal to travel between worlds. It can and does appear anywhere and everywhere. The last sighting was in Hell."

"Yeah, so whaddaya want me to do about it?" Yusuke interrupted impatiently.

"We've managed to trace this presence to a small town in southern America. I want you, Kurama, Kuwabara, and Hiei to go undercover as students there until you can find out who is doing this." Koenma replied, peeved.

"I'm NOT going to a human school!" an angry voice stated.

Hiei moved out of the shadows, glaring at the toddler.

Koenma gulped. "Er, yes Hiei, I was kind of expecting this, but we've already secured four spots in a student exchange program…"

"Might I suggest letting Keiko fill one of those spots?" a smooth voice inquired. "Hiei could search for clues while we're at school, and it might be more believable for Keiko to participate in the program."

Kurama stepped into view as well. Hiei continued glaring at Koenma.

"Er, yes, well… very well. You'll leave in one week." The Prince of the Spirit World replied nervously.

-- --- -- --- -- 

"FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!" the group of boys chanted, encircling the two combatants.

Kurama sighed. _Trust Yusuke to get into a fight the first day here_. He ignored the chant and studied the people around him. A bit of conversation caught his attention.

"So Loren, who's gonna win?" a girl asked.

"The new kid." The girl beside her replied, yawning. 

Kurama wondered how she could be so certain.

"You sure?" the other girl asked.

Loren snorted. "Bobby's in way over his head. That kid could kill him with a single punch." 

_She's right_, Kurama mused.

"In fact…" the girl muttered, "he could beat Bobby with one finger."

"One finger?"

"Yeah. I can't explain it, but that kid could kill just about anybody with his index finger." Loren replied sleepily.

Kurama was paying full attention now. How could that girl know that?

"You look pretty tired." Loren's friend observed.

"I had a weird dream last night. I don't feel like I got any sleep at all…" Loren muttered.

The school bell rang just as Yusuke delivered the final blow. As the students filed into the building, Kurama strained to get a glimpse at the girl who had made such an accurate prediction. He sighed as he realized he was the only one left outside. _She probably just had high Spirit Awareness_, he decided as he hurried to catch up with the herd of students stampeding down the hall.

-- --- -- --- --

"What you do in high school will effect you for the rest of your life." The teacher lectured, pacing the length of the whiteboard. She cast a sweeping glance over the classroom. "Loren. What do you want to do when you get out of high school?"

"Huh?" the girl in the middle row asked sleepily.

Yusuke yawned, bored. She'd probably say something about going to college and getting a job. He was sitting in the back, next to Kuwabara. Both were wearing their normal street clothes. Keiko, wearing jeans and a sweater, was sitting at the front of the class like the good student she was, looking at the girl expectantly.

"Hey, Urameshi, can you believe it?" Kuwabara whispered excitedly. "We're in high school!"

"No duh, Kuwabara, it's a lot easier in America!" Yusuke retorted. 

"What do you want to do when you get out of high school?" the teacher repeated patiently, directing a warning glance in the boys' direction.

The girl shrugged. "I dunno."

Yusuke glanced at the girl, who had turned to look at the clock at the back of the room. She had dirty-blonde hair that reached her shoulders, her bangs almost covering her eyes, which were a dull blue-green. She wore baggy jeans and an old gray t-shirt, and her shoes were a faded white. She also sported a black leather glove with the thumb, pinky, and index finger ripped off on her left hand. Her face was expressionless as she studied the clock.

"She'll probably just be some back-country cowpoke!" one of the boys snickered.

Loren's expression didn't change. 

"Why not?" she agreed.

The teacher sighed as the bell rang. 

"Well, think about it, people!" she called out.

-- --- -- --- --

Later, at lunch-

"Oooooooh!" 

The cry echoed throughout the cafeteria. The boy Yusuke had fought that morning, Bobby, was standing over Loren's now ruined lunch. Kuwabara jumped up, ready to defend the girl, despite the fact that he was halfway across the cafeteria. Yusuke stood as well, scowling. Loren merely gave Bobby a blank stare.

"You fixed that fight!" Bobby growled at Loren.

"Oh yes," she agreed blandly. "I took a guess at the outcome and magically made you lose."

"You!-" Bobby snarled.

"Hey!" Yusuke called, walking towards them. "If you think me beating you into the ground was a fluke, I'd be happy to prove you wrong!"

Glaring at Loren, Bobby turned to walk away. Suddenly, he turned, his fist heading right for her. 

"Why you!-" Yusuke growled, now running full speed.

In a flash, Loren had Bobby's arm pinned behind him. Her face was hard, and for just a second, Yusuke could have sworn her eyes flashed a brilliant blue. Now everyone was staring at them. Loren, noticing the stares, shrugged, letting go of Bobby's arm, and walked out of the lunch room. Yusuke watched her leave, then returned to his table.

"What was that about?" Keiko asked.

"I dunno." Yusuke replied.

-- --- -- --- --

After school-

"So, how was your first day?" the heavy set, gray-haired man asked the four as they walked up the path to the ranch house of their host.

"Great, thank you, Mr. Farr!" Keiko replied politely.

Kurama's reply was much the same, but Yusuke ignored the inquiry and asked, "Where's the guy who's supposed to be hosting us? Mr. Conner?"

"Oh, you won't be seeing him much. He's away on business a lot. Truth be told, if this weren't the only place with room to spare for four kids, or even just one, you'd be someplace else. And please, call me Jake." Jake told them.

"What about his kid?" Kuwabara asked. "I heard he has a kid, but we haven't seen 'im around."

"Oh, she's over by the corrals, working with her horse. Why don't you go over and introduce yourselves?" Jake replied pleasantly.

Yusuke shrugged and the group started to wander towards this corral. Their host owned a good-sized ranch, and they weren't completely familiar with the set-up yet. They finally got to the corral and Yusuke's eyes widened.

"Loren?!" he exclaimed, surprised.

The girl didn't seem to hear him, and the group watched silently as she and her horse, a ghostly silver beauty with a slightly darker mane, went through a series of acrobatics. Loren was on the ground, shoeless, her shirt tucked into her pants, as the horse galloped around her at a fairly high speed. Quickly and effortlessly she grabbed the harness that the mare wore, lifting herself onto its back in one fluid motion. She then proceeded to execute various flips and handstands, landing precisely and not seeming to waste a single movement. Her horse by no means had a broad back, so Loren had to land just right to avoid falling or injuring it.

After a while, she picked up the pace, falling from her mount, catching the handles, and lifting herself back onto its back quickly, alternating sides. Her horse then began to circle the corral more quickly, and at seemingly random intervals she would lean down on one side or the other and grab a fistful of dirt. Loren concluded her session by riding around the ring four times while in a handstand on her mount's back. As she slowed her horse to a walk, Kurama noticed with a start that the places Loren had reached down to grab the dirt were twelve dots, evenly spaced around the rim of the corral, six on the outside, six within the outer six, creating a counter pattern.

Loren seemed to notice them at last.

"Shouldn't you be studying or something?" she asked, her face as expressionless as always as she dismounted.

"What about you?" Yusuke retorted. "We have a science test tomorrow." 

"The Periodic Table is arranged according to atomic number and atomic mass. As the atomic number increases, so does the atomic mass. The Periodic Table is also arranged in rows and columns. Rows are also known as Periods, and columns are also known as Groups or Families. Elements in the same Family or Period have several similarities linking them together. The Periodic Table was created by Mendeleev, a scientist who believed that all elements were connected in some way." Loren answered wearily.

"…"

"… Nice horse!" Kuwabara observed, reaching out to pet it.

Loren didn't twitch as her horse lunged past her, snagging a piece of Kuwabara's sleeve. Yusuke, Keiko, and Kurama backed up, staring in awe at the wild mare, whose fierce eyes were not the normal brown, but a bright blue.

"Storm doesn't trust people." Loren said by way of explanation. 

"Uh-huh. You know what; I think I'll go study now." Yusuke muttered, glancing nervously at the silver mare, which was glaring threateningly at him.

Yusuke headed back towards the house, Keiko and Kuwabara hurrying to follow him. Kurama held back for a minute, to get a good look at the girl who had realized Yusuke's power, though she obviously didn't realize she'd done anything special. She was his height, slightly taller than most girls her age, but her height wasn't all that noticeable. In fact, she seemed made to fit in, to melt into any crowd. Kurama shook his head and ran to catch up with Yusuke and the others. Loren had already started for the stables.

As he reached the rest of the group, Hiei appeared.

"Nothing to report," he growled. "I can't find a single clue."

Kurama decided this was a good time to mention what he'd overheard that morning.

"She has high Spirit Awareness," Hiei stated, looking at Kuwabara. "Did you sense anything strange about her?"

"Nothing at all, she seems pretty normal to me," Kuwabara replied. "Almost too normal. She doesn't seem to have ANY thing strange about her."

"I guess she's pretty good at hiding it," Yusuke observed.

"Did you come up with that on your own, Yusuke?" Hiei sneered.

Yusuke sighed. "I guess we should go check her out some more. Maybe she's been sensing this 'mysterious presence'."

--- -- --- -- ---

A/N: Well, here's the first chapter. What do you think? Reviews will be appreciated, though they won't affect the fact that I WILL finish this story. I WILL!


	2. Attack of the Cows

            The group dispersed. Keiko went off to study for her test, while Kurama, Kuwabara, and Yusuke went to go find Loren. Hiei disappeared.

            The three boys found Loren exiting the barn, having traded her mare's harness for a saddle and bridle. They looked at each other, silently agreeing to follow her in secret. Little did they realize just how fast Storm was.

-- --- -- --- --

            "Just *huff* how *huff* much *huff* further *huff* do you *huff* think *huff* it is *huff*?" Yusuke panted as they ran parallel to Loren in the cover of the bushes and trees randomly located throughout what turned out to be a very expansive amount of land that the Conner's owned.

            "I'm afraid I couldn't tell you, Yusuke, as I have no idea where "it" is!" Kurama replied, breathing hard.

            Kuwabara was too out of breath to comment. If he hadn't been, he would have been able to point out that the ground they had been covering had been trampled by a large group of hoofed animals. He was able to notice this because he had to stare at his feet in order to get them to keep moving. Soon they reached more trampled ground, and soon after that there was little sign that anything had ever grown there, and fresh prints were everywhere. The boys finally realized where Loren was headed when they spotted a small-medium herd of cattle.

-- --- -- --- --

            She wasted no breath hollering to the creatures, indeed, they seemed to be expecting her and several trotted out to meet her. Loren ignored them and turned to the task of rounding up the scattered herd, though most obliged her by trotting into place. Loren liked animals. They understood her a lot better than people did. And she understood them. She knew which of the animals she would have trouble with and which would automatically do what she wanted. She didn't begrudge the more difficult ones; they just made this more fun. 

            The boys crouched down in the low shrubbery as they watched Loren work. As ignorant as they were about cattle, they realized that not many people could get such results from them. Loren was also skilled with a lasso, as she demonstrated several times on the more difficult bovines. There were several that were especially clever, ducking and dodging with an intelligence some humans failed to exhibit. Loren lassoed them all and led them back to the herd, several times, but they refused to stay there.

            Loren frowned, no longer relaxed. There was something strange about these cows; they weren't familiar to her. She turned towards the shrubs the boys hid behind.

            "I'm willing to bet these are more your department than mine," she informed them.

            All three boys stood, a little embarrassed at being caught. That soon changed to dismay as a humanoid cow with glowing red eyes, similar to the ancient Minotaur, reached to pull the girl out of her saddle, screeching "Die, human!".

            Storm reared, her front hooves crashing down on the demon's head. She spun quickly to kick out at it, catching it in the stomach and lifting it up in the air, to land several yards away, in a thorn bush. The three boys stared at the horse for a second before launching into battle against the remaining cow-demons. They seemed to multiply, and soon the boys had their hands full. In a flash Hiei was battling alongside them, slicing the monsters into hamburger meat. Even this was not enough, though, and soon they were overwhelmed.

            Loren wiped the sweat from her eyes as she concentrated on staying mounted. The task proved impossible, however, as the demons swarmed over Storm and brought her to the ground. Loren was thrown several feet away. Struggling to get up, she saw that Storm was buried beneath massing bodies, helpless. Fury washed through her, though she still didn't show it outwardly. How DARE these creatures attack her only friend? She launched herself at the creatures, punching, kicking, and dodging at an incredible rate. The boys were taken aback at her skill and ferociousness. 

            Not even this could stand against the massing demons, and soon she was overwhelmed as well. As Loren struggled with the demons, she became aware of several power sources appearing near a huge one, a large, unimpressed cow whose back was turned to the pandemonium. As she was dragged a little to the side, she realized with a start that the cow was belching forth new "minotaur" even as the newly "born" ones were preparing to join the attack.

            "Filthy humanssssss!" they screeched. "Take us to the poooooooweeeeer!"

            Loren had had enough. Her hands glowed with brilliant silver-blue energy, which soon took shape as two small handheld axes. She managed to shake her attackers off of her with them.

            "That's great!" Yusuke yelled, still busy with his own share of the creatures. "Now help us out!!!"

            Loren stared at him calmly, though inside she was still angry at the cow-demons. "I don't know how to use them," she pointed out mildly.

            Yusuke cursed as one of his opponents landed a hard blow. Loren ignored him and studied her new weapons. Nothing like this had ever happened to her before. She glanced at the "mother" cow and came to a quick decision. She brought the axes hilt to hilt, making sure the butt of the weapons touched. When she pulled them apart, the hilts seemed to stretch, and a chain formed between the two. The blades thinned and lengthened, curving to form a half-circle around the hilt. The chain lengthened as needed, and Loren began whirling one axe around her head. When she was sure she had enough control over her newest weapon, she sent the axe flying, slightly to the side of the cow.

            "YOU MISSED!!!" Yusuke yelled, beginning to wear down.

            Loren ignored him and with a flick of her wrist severed the creature's head, bringing the blade around to attack the remaining demons. With a few sweeps of the flying blade, all demons within her range were killed. Loren gave the chain a yank and the axe was back in her hand. The others fought with renewed energy as the creatures' numbers were rapidly depleted. Finally, every one was dead. Loren kicked one as Storm came to stand beside her, shaken.

            "Is there a name for these things?" she asked tiredly.

            "Not that I know of…" Yusuke replied wearily, sitting down amongst the bodies.

            Kurama shook his head and sat as well, while Hiei glared at Loren. Kuwabara had already collapsed and was panting like a dog. Loren glanced around. The real cattle had stampeded, destroying the fence between them and a green pasture. Loren sighed. At least that had worked out okay, and for now the cow-demons were as good as a fence. She glanced at the boys.

            "You're like them, only stronger," she informed Hiei.

            "Hn." was the fire demon's reply.

            "Soooo…" Yusuke began from his position on the ground. "Sensed anything weird lately?"

-- --- -- --- --

A/N: Second chappie up. Yay. Me tired. Me asleep on my feet. Me hope certain people don't mess with me right now.


End file.
